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Twisters and Globes are not the future of Diablo III, and the 2.4.1 PTR will show us that soon!

Diablo Community manager Kauza has made a fairly big post about the Season 5 meta, which to say, has not turned out how the team intended. They are talking specifically about the 3 and 4 man Greater Rift meta, which revolves around the Wizard supplying almost all of the group's damage through manipulating Energy Twister into stationary positions. The rest of the players are then tasked with herding mobs, keeping the Wizard alive and feeding them health globes, which in turn allows the Wizard free casts of ET through the Power Hungry passive. This damage reaches phenomenal levels through the legendary affix baked into the 2.4 item, The Twisted Sword and the rune Raging Storm.

While some might enjoy this high level of teamwork and coordination, most players consider it to be quite un-fun. Team Diablo has more than taken notice of this, and Kauza has addressed this in a large Blue post. The post covers 2.4.1 being the next patch, Taeguk changes we reported, the Greater Rift meta and how unhappy they are with it, and what their philosophy is on all the item and skill changes being made in order to alter this.

Later in the thread, there is also a brief mention that they are looking into making more of the Legendary Gems viable. This is great news, as currently there are around 6 or so that wind up in almost all viable endgame builds. Seems like the changes to Taeguk are to make it more niche, but clearly an auto-include within that niche. It would make more sense to have each gem be clearly tailored to a style of play, but only really work well within that style. Enforcer is a great example of this, making it into all pet-based builds, but clearly not making sense elsewhere. This change to Taeguk makes the gem an auto-include for channeling builds, and hopefully these philosophies will make their way into all the gems eventually. I'm looking at you Invigorating Gemstone.

I've included the full collection of Blue posts from the thread below for ease of reference.

Personally, I think the amount of change being made to target the specific meta seems too strong and probably too reactionary, but I am excited for the what rises in its place, and much more so to see the buffing of some of gems. Let us know what you think below!

Kauza

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Community Manager

We’ve been hard at work on our next patch, which is going to bump us up to version 2.4.1. We’ll have our official PTR patch notes available soon, but we’d like to call out a few specific changes and talk about the philosophy that went into making them.

First, we’ve been looking at the prevalence of Barbarians in group play beyond Greater Rift 80 and how they’re being used. While many classes bring party-based buffs, the damage reduction of Ignore Pain – Mob Rule combined with Pride of Cassius is currently a clear outlier. As a result, we’re reducing the party benefit of Ignore Pain – Mob Rule from 50% to 25%. To ensure this doesn’t harm the overall viability of group play, we’re also reducing the damage of monsters at high Greater Rifts. This allows not only groups with Barbarians to remain near the same levels in terms of incoming damage, but it affords alternative group compositions greater survivability.

Next up, Wyatt had recently posted a bit about Taeguk. We are making some significant changes to Taeguk, as well as some other Legendary Gems.

First up, for Taeguk:

Taeguk will now only work for channeled powers

Taeguk will now stack more quickly, but also drop off more quickly. The maximum is now ten stacks, and you’ll now lose the stack after 1.5 seconds instead of 3 seconds

The Armor % component of Taeguk has been changed to 2% per stack

The idea here is that Taeguk will complement those moments when you’re channeling and need an extra boost. You probably won’t have Taeguk up all the time, but it won’t hurt as much when your stacks fall off as you’ll build them up much more quickly. And while the Armor % reduction will affect survivability, the reduced monster damage at higher Greater Rifts will help to balance this out. We’ll have much more to share soon on changes to other gems, which will help to make as many gems as possible work as reasonable substitutes for Taeguk.

Finally, we are changing both Twisted Sword and Solanium. What we’ve seen from group compositions is a playstyle based around Wizards spamming Energy Twister, while the group spams Health Globe generation. We’ve received a ton of feedback on these, and we agree completely that manipulation of the generation of health globes is not good for the game. Here’s what we’re changing:

Solanium is getting an internal cooldown (ICD) of 8 seconds

Twisted Sword is getting a cap at 5 Energy Twisters

This means a couple of things for users of these items. For Solanium users, you’ll still be able to generate additional health globes, but this removes any possibility of the current health globe spamming mechanics moving forward. For Twisted Sword users, Wizards who use the skill in the course of their normal playstyle shouldn’t see much of a change. However, the exponential scaling made possible by Energy Twister spamming won’t be possible anymore.

In short, you should be able to play support builds, and your Wizard should feel powerful. What we found with both of the above cases, though, is a negative effect on group dynamics and class playstyle. We’ll be taking all of your feedback during PTR to ensure we’ve hit our goals here. And, of course, thanks for all of your feedback on Patch 2.4.0. (Source)

Kazua

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The changes to Taeguk, Twisted Sword, and Solanium will be retroactive. (Source)

Kazua

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We're taking a look at some of the other Legendary gems as well to open up as many viable alternatives as we can. More on that soon! (Source)

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It's that time again as there's a new season looming and the current one ends, with only 2 weeks left in Season 13! As usual there's a little break between them as everyone struggles to fit 2 entire stashes into one on the non-seasonal side of things and 14 starts on June 15th (which is just annoyingly confusing)!
Season 13 End and 14 Start Date (source)
Here we are again, nephalem. As we prepare to close out another Season in Diablo III, it's time to take a moment to remember what you have achieved and ensure that you're ready for the next.
If you haven't experienced the end of a Season, there's a lot to know about what happens to your gear, your progress, and your characters. Don't fret! We're here to give you a full overview of what to expect when the current Season ends and the next one begins.
Table of Contents:
Season Rollover
Conquests
Leaderboards
Season End and Start Dates
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The Season Rollover
If you've played through a Season before, you know that all the gold, gear, and Paragon experience you earned don't just disappear. But what exactly happens to all that hard-earned progress when a Season ends? The short answer is that you get to keep just about all of it.
Here's a list of all the rewards from this Season you can expect your non-Seasonal heroes to enjoy:
Heroes
Seasonal heroes will be converted to either non-Seasonal Normal or Hardcore mode heroes, as appropriate. There's no need to delete any characters to make room for them; your Seasonal heroes will continue to use the same slot they currently occupy in your roster after the rollover. You’ll also be able to use Season Rebirth to convert any non-seasonal character into a Seasonal level 1 character once the next Season begins.
Gold
Any gold you earn during the Season will transfer to your non-Seasonal heroes.
Paragon Experience
The total amount of Paragon experience earned is the amount that rolls over, but not the raw total Paragon levels that you gained.
For example, if your Seasonal heroes reached Paragon 300, and your current non-Seasonal heroes are already Paragon 400, your new non-Seasonal Paragon level will still be less than Paragon 700, since Paragon levels require more experience to earn the higher you go.
Blood Shards
Much like how it works with gold, any Blood Shards you have available at the end of the Season will transfer to your non-Seasonal heroes.
If your non-Seasonal heroes are currently at the Blood Shard cap, any Blood Shards you earn once the Season ends will temporarily ignore the cap. You can spend these at your leisure; however, you can’t pick up any additional Blood Shards until you are below the current cap.
Items
Items that are currently equipped on a hero or in that hero's inventory will stay on that hero as it moves to a non-Seasonal game mode.
Items that are in your Seasonal stash will be sent through the in-game mail system to your non-Seasonal heroes. These items can be claimed by any non-Seasonal hero up to 30 days from the time you first log in after the Season ends. To access these items on PC, enter a game and hit the Mail icon located in the lower left corner of your screen to open your inbox. Console players can do the same by visiting the mailbox found in any town hub.
If you’ve unlocked Primal Ancient items by completing Greater Rift 70 on a Seasonal hero, you’ll also be able to obtain them on non-Seasonal heroes after the Season ends (if you have not previously unlocked them for non-Seasonal heroes).
Artisan Progress and Recipes
If your Seasonal Artisans are a higher level than your non-Seasonal Artisans at the end of the Season, their level will transfer to your non-Seasonal Artisans.
Any recipes you have on your Seasonal Artisans that are not available to your non-Seasonal Artisans will be transferred as well.
Shared Stash
Any Shared Stash slots or tabs you purchase during a Season that are not currently available to your non-Seasonal heroes will be transferred accordingly.
Achievements
Any achievements earned or achievement progress made during the Season are automatically applied to your non-Seasonal achievement profile. This happens in real time and does not require the Season to end first. Your achievement point total is also updated appropriately throughout the Season.
Kanai's Cube
After the Season rollover, any Legendary Powers unlocked using Kanai’s Cube on a Seasonal Character will become available on non-Seasonal characters as appropriate.
At the start of a new Season, Seasonal characters will not have access to any Kanai’s Cube Legendary Powers unlocked during previous Seasonal or non-Seasonal play.
Season 13 Rewards
All players who reach level 70 on a hero in Season 13 will unlock exclusive transmogrification appearances for helm and shoulders. These appearances will unlock immediately upon hitting level 70 on a Seasonal hero, and will be available on Seasonal and non-Seasonal heroes alike (even before the Season concludes). To access your new appearances, simply visit Myriam the Mystic and open the Transmogrification tab.
Players can also earn portrait frames and an exclusive cosmetic pet for completing various chapters of the Season Journey.
Note: All heroes, rewards, and progress will convert to the appropriate non-Seasonal game mode. Any items, gold, Paragon experience, achievements, Artisan levels or recipes, Stash space, and Blood Shards earned on Normal Seasonal heroes will transfer to your Normal non-Seasonal heroes when the Season is over. Similarly, anything you’ve earned on Hardcore Seasonal heroes will transfer to your Hardcore non-Season heroes instead.
Season 13 Conquests
Unlike other rewards, Conquests do not roll over at the end of the Season (because they aren’t available to non-Seasonal heroes). This also means that your non-Seasonal Achievement point total will not be affected by any Conquests you earn during a Season.

Season 13 Leaderboards
Once the Season ends, all Seasonal Leaderboards will be wiped and you’ll be unable to attain new Leaderboard ranks until the next Season begins. The results of the previous Season’s Leaderboards will remain available for viewing in-game for PC players. Once the new Season begins, PC players can view a handy dropdown menu to compare current and previous Season records. Similarly, console players will be able to view their rank for the previous Season.
PC players can also view current and past Leaderboards on our website.

In addition, the non-Seasonal Greater Rift Leaderboards on PC will be wiped sometime after the end of the Season. However, players on this platform can immediately compete in the currently active Era with their non-Seasonal heroes (including those who have just rolled over), and will not have to wait for the start of the next Season.

Season 13 End & Season 14 Start Dates
You can sort through your Seasonal rewards and review your progress on the Leaderboards between Seasons. It’s a great time to reflect on the accomplishments you’ve made and enjoy the fruits of your pre- and post-Season loot hunts!
Season 13 will end on the following dates:
North America: Sunday, June 3 @ 5:00 p.m. PDT
Europe: Sunday, June 3 @ 5:00 p.m. CET
Asia: Sunday, June 3 @ 5:00 p.m. KST
Season 14 will begin about two weeks afterward on the dates below:
North America: Friday, June 15 @ 5:00 p.m. PDT
Europe: Friday, June 15 @ 5:00 p.m. CET
Asia: Friday, June 15 @ 5:00 p.m. KST
For time zone assistance, check out this handy guide. We look forward to seeing you in Season 14!
Ready for the Rollover?
How have you fared during Season 13? What was the highest Greater Rift you reached? Did you complete any Conquests? Any other exciting accomplishments to share?
Let us know in the comments!

Patch 2.6.1a is live on consoles and players can finally get their hands on the Starcraft anniversary pet!
Dominion's Revenge Pet
The StarCraft anniversary got delayed on consoles, but now that Patch 2.6.1a is live, you can earn the Dominion's Revenge pet just by logging into the game.

Blizzard (Source)
Greetings, nephalem!
Patch 2.6.1a is now live for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This patch should bring these console versions up to patch parity with PC.
For the PC version of the patch notes, please check the launcher under Options -> Patch Notes on the Diablo III game tab.
General
StarCraft 20th Anniversary
The StarCraft 20th Anniversary pet has been added to the game. All players should unlock this item upon entering their first game after patching.
Bug Fixes
Several bug fixes have been applied to the Season Journey in order to allow proper completion of tasks and Conquests

It seems that Twitch Prime members will receive a Portrait frame, Skeletal Wings, and a Shadow Diablo pet in an upcoming Twitch promotion.
Redditor Kenaya came across a player with unique achievements and all the goodies listed above. He posted some interesting screenshots on Reddit.
Achievements
The player had three achievements related to a Twitch promotion that hasn't been officially confirmed yet.